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Monday, October 14, 2013

Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy

In the tradition of
SHABANU, DAUGHTER OF THE WIND and THE BREADWINNER, a beautiful debut
about a daughter of Afghanistan discovering new friends and
opportunities after the defeat of the Taliban.

Zulaikha hopes.
She hopes for peace, now that the Taliban have been driven from
Afghanistan; a good relationship with her hard stepmother; and one day
even to go to school, or to have her cleft palate fixed. Zulaikha knows
all will be provided for her--"Inshallah," God willing.

Then she
meets Meena, who offers to teach her the Afghan poetry she taught her
late mother. And the Americans come to her village, promising not just
new opportunities and dangers, but surgery to fix her face. These
changes could mean a whole new life for Zulaikha--but can she dare to
hope they'll come true?

I must admit that this book has been on my shelf for a while and I
haven’t read it. Why? I have no good excuse for you…especially now that I have
read it! After reading Torn by David Massey, I knew that this book must be my
next. This is a book that will stay with me for a long time not only because of
the powerful story that was written, but because of the knowledge that I gained
about the Afghan culture and people through Trent Reedy’s words.

Zulaikha was born with a cleft lip and when she is spotted by the
American soldiers who come into her village, they make every effort to help her
fix her lip. This is only the surface level of the story. Zulaikha’s life is
full of many trials and tribulations that impact her life that we (as privileged
Americans) will never comprehend. I loved that my eyes were opened to a whole
other culture and way of life. As I am cleaning my house now, I will not
complain about what little I have to do in comparison to the young women like
Zulaikha. Every emotion from rage to heartbreak was brought out of me through
this novel. At one point, I was scared that I was going to completely melt down
in front of my students as we were all reading. Can you imagine those parent
phone calls? “My son told me you blubbered about a character in a book. Are you
sure you’re okay?!” Haha!!

This summer I read a book called The Butterfly Mosque: A Young
American Woman's Journey to Love and Islam which had a profound impact on
me and opened my eyes to other cultures that are often labeled as “terroristic”
because of something that people from their nation choose to do. I loved in the
“Author’s Notes” Reedy pointed out how he had a view of the people from
Afghanistan as being the evil monsters who terrorized and attacked our nation.
However, when he went to the villages to help these people, he realized that there
was a difference in the “dangerous groups like the Taliban and the typical,
peace-loving Afghan people” (p. 253). It is through books like this and the
many others that are out there that over privileged American’s like me can
learn to distinguish between the two as well.